The system administrator created a file sharing service to the cloud for easier access for those working remotely. Which of the following tests should be performed to determine if services can be…

Testing storage evaluates capacity and I/O performance metrics, not whether the service is vulnerable to security compromise by an attacker.

Testing latency measures network response times and has no bearing on whether the service can be exploited or compromised.

A vulnerability assessment identifies and reports potential weaknesses but does not actively exploit them to confirm whether the service can actually be breached.

Penetration testing goes beyond identifying vulnerabilities by involving authorized simulated attacks that actively attempt to exploit weaknesses in a system to confirm whether a service can be compromised. For a cloud-hosted file sharing service, a penetration test would employ real attack techniques such as privilege escalation, unauthorized data access, or authentication bypass. This provides definitive evidence of exploitability rather than only theoretical risk, which is exactly what the question requires.